Daily Bits

Can Advertising Work on Social Networks ?

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Can social networks be made advertiser friendly ? This is the top question on the mind of both Web companies and media giants that have bought into the social networking pie. There is still the missing piece to making advertising click and its even being questioned whether companies should attempt to do so.

From the patent side, Bill Slawski at Seo By The Sea has a post on a latest filing from Google on using the details from a user’s profile, contacts and groups to place ads in context on their page. What is interesting is that in case the profile information is scanty, the system will provide advertisements based on the tastes of the contacts of with whom the user is connected.

Technology aside, Facebook’s experience with the Beacon program has resulted in some serious questions on how to make money of social networks in a manner that users find tolerable. The problem here is that social networks are not exactly media that users consume. Unlike search, video or other form of media, there is no immediate tangible motive for a person on a social network. There is also the question as to whether social networks need to be monetized at all. From the point of view of a brand promotion, social networks are great avenues. But move that space over from being company hosted to being a generic online hang-out and brand promotion becomes all so intrusive.

The ideal solution to make money off social networks continues to remain illusive. Constant experimentation by the likes of Google and FaceBook will hopefully result in some sustainable form of revenue generation.

Search Updates at Google and Yahoo

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The tough news around Yahoo apart, the second most popular search engine is doing good on rolling out new features. Announced this week was the availability of Yahoo Glue. What Glue does is return a list of different media types for a search query based on the context such as Wikipedia links and excerpts for people and stock quotes for companies. The feature was first launched and tested in India. Google’s Universal search immediately comes to mind when looking at the interface. The glue pages are not available for all topics but the list of topics is growing.

Google also announced a new feature called SearchWiki. Its an approach made to factor in user preferences for search results, albeit in a scaled down manner. For a given list of results, users can now choose to move links up or down the rankings or even delete them. These changes will affect the ranking for the particular user only. There is also a feature to add custom notes to the results and also view notes added by other users. In the long run perhaps Google will mine all these user preferences to further enhance their search algorithms. Its interesting to see Google implement features for social input to search results.

The Storm Has Arrived

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The iPhone has been the darling of gadget lovers but its the Blackberry Storm that has been highly anticipated in enterprise circles. Research in Motion’s latest device that mimics many of the features introduced in the iPhone has, according to reports, been very well received.

Some of the features that are unique to the Storm are :

  • Support for Microsoft Office documents
  • Copy and Paste
  • Tactile Feedback – to give a physical effect for keys pressed
  • Support for both CDMA and GSM
  • 3.2 MP camera
  • Support for normal 3.5mm Jack for headphones

Features similar are automatic switching to portrait and landscape mode, on screen keyboards (some difference is there in the portrait mode). The device is available from Verizon Wireless. One real hard miss is the lack of support for WiFi. For $200 and a two year contract its a good alternative for the enterprise users mesmerized with the iPhone.

Real-time Document Editing with Etherpad

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The real appeal of the web is how its reduced the time it takes to get your work done. And compared to other web based services, productivity software have established revenue models with offering premium services or hosted services specifically for businesses. A new start-up called Etherpad now adds another layer to online collaboration by supporting real-time editing of documents across the net.

Etherpad allows users to share the URL of the document with anyone and make real time changes to the document. Each user is assigned a background text color so they can track the changes as they are being made. The feature has its skeptics and supporters. Some contend that live editing is not a necessary requirement. But when it comes to note taking during meetings, or collaborating within a group on a piece of literature, this is one cool way to track of changes and edits.

Its not that other online text editors cannot support similar feature. Perhaps its not a feature on top of their wish-list. The service does not require any signing up.

40 Killer Gmail Tips

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The guys from Tech Radar compiled a list with 40 brilliant Gmail hints, hacks and secrets. If you are not using Gmail yet, well, you are with the minority. Here are the first 3 items on the list:

1. If you haven’t already created a Gmail account, you no longer need an invitation to do so. Just go to www.gmail.com and click Sign up for Google Mail.

2. Gmail blocks most executable filetypes as a virus protection measure. If you absolutely have to send EXE or DLL files to a colleague, use something like DropSend. You can send up to five files per month for free.

3. Attachments sent in formats that Google Documents can read can be opened direct in your browser. That list includes Word, Excel, PowerPoint, PDF, and RTF files.

Check the link above to read the full article.

Adobe to Bring Flash to ARM

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Adobe will soon be porting the full fledged Flash Player to the ARM processor, bridging the gap between its offering for the desktop and mobiles. Earlier Adobe had pushed ahead Flash Lite, a scaled down version of Flash but now with its plans to bring Flash to ARM processors, the attempt is to snag a major share of mobile devices internet experience.

An excerpt from Technology Review:

Specifically, the companies say that Adobe’s Flash Player 10 and AIR (a platform for building complex Web applications) will be compatible and optimized for the ARM chips available in 2009. While ARM is used in a huge number of mobile phones, the announcement has broader implications: the chips are also used in set-top boxes, mobile Internet devices, personal media players, and automotive platforms.

Though Flash is not coming to the iPhone, its hoped that this initiative will aid that process too by showing that it is possible to run full blown Flash functionality without slowing down the mobile device. Developers of mobile software also stand to benefit from the availability of the same technology across multiple devices, essentially negating the need to work on portability issues. Adobe does not want to miss out from being the major format for videos on mobile as well, especially considering how Microsoft is pushing Silverlight.